Top Ten Worst Dirt Bikes of All Time

[ConqSoft]

http://www.off-road.com/dirtbike/fea...orstbikes.html

I found this note especially amusing:
The Bridgestone Hurricane Scramblers of the late '60s and early '70s had a rotary shift pattern that was bizarre beyond belief! You would shift up through all six gears, then when you hit the shifter one more time it would go back to low gear. Imagine the surprise when the rider was in top gear, all tucked in and howling down a fire road, and snicked the lever one more time, only to be greeted with low gear and 11 million instant rpm!

Novice riders who bought the Bultacos, Ossas and Montesas of that period ended up pulling out their hair by the handful, promptly sold the strange beasts and then bought reliable Japanese mounts.

My brother had a Bultaco 370 Frontera that I rode a good bit (he bought it from a friend who needed cash). It was a great bike when you got it running, left side kick start that bottomed out on the footpeg, talk about a pain in the foot!

I liked their homage to 3-wheelers:

...Then savvy people started noticing that they handled like a shopping cart loaded with bowling balls with one locked front wheel going down a flight of stairs.

People started doing wonderful things like riding over their own legs and biffing over
the bars when the things got into a high- speed wobble-you know, anything over 20 mph. Suspension on these early three-wheelers? Nothing. Zip. Nada. Zero. Just three balloon tires were there to take the impacts...

LOL I just saw on out in the snow last week - they look dangerous just standing still!

I've got an old Yam 3 wheeler for putting around the place. It's got suspension but that's not a big help...it still wants to kill me. Definitely a low speed vehicle!

Originally Posted by ConqSoft

Imagine the surprise when the rider was in top gear, all tucked in and howling down a fire road, and snicked the lever one more time, only to be greeted with low gear and 11 million instant rpm! [/i]

Thanks for making ginger ale come out my nose. Cleared out my sinuses.

[luvtolean]

"For sale-1972 Suzuki TM-400. Only ten hours on bike. Possible injury forces sale. $500 or best offer."





I still like riding ATC's.

Originally Posted by phozed

I liked their homage to 3-wheelers:

People started doing wonderful things like riding over their own legs...

My buddy's wife did this in their back yard. She was zipping along towards a cinder block wall and forgot where the brakes were, so she put her feet down. She ran up the back of her legs just as she hit the wall....

Luckily, she only skinned the back of her legs (wearing shorts, no less) and was okay otherwise. It was still damn funny to watch.

i had a 1972 honda cr 250 in 1973, with 3 ins. of travel. Liked to kill me several times. I was in heaven when i traded it for a 1975 Penton 175 Jackpiner.

Three wheeler riders are at the top of the motorized vehicle evolutionary ladder. Here is a pic of your typical three wheeler rider engaged in his favorite sport.

Once you got used to those 3 wheel buggers, you could really get them going. The turning radius was much sharper than the quad's I've ridden 'cause you could do it on two wheels. They did tend to roll over backwards while going uphill if you weren't careful. The balloon tires did a pretty good job actually... but they tended to bounce your ass all over the place. They did have their benefit in swampy territory - the only time we ever got one stuck was on the far side of the river, with two riders, going up the slope... All the weight on the rear finally sank the tires abut 3/4 into the mud.

I like the japanese guy who said "It's easy to make a suspension for a bomber. It only has to stroke once. A motor cycle is confusing. It has to stroke numerous times."

Ya, their zero bombers were often only meant to take off once.

[Pete]

Originally Posted by nomad

They did tend to roll over backwards while going uphill if you weren't careful.

Broke my foot on my ATC200 doing just that.

ha! The CR450 was one of the first dirt bikes I ever rode (or tried to ride). It belonged to a friend's dad and we called it "the Beast." Despite being a Honda, that bike was not known for reliability. As the segment from the article indicated, we spent a lot of time trying to kick start it (on the left, by the way) and changing fouled plugs.

Oh sure, it had a lot of power, but the power delivery was freaky. It would either hit hard, or hesitate, but you were never sure which would happen. Geared for off-road use, low gear would take you out to 45 mph, while fourth gear might squeak up to 80. Topping off its list of bad habits was that it was hard to start when cold, harder to start if you dropped it and when it got hot, and it tended to foul plugs and ping.

But we did have a lot of fun with it.

Some of my best riding memories were on my ATC110. We used to ride up and down the Chikaskia river for miles. In late August the water level was low enough you could ride for miles. When you came to a deep hole you just dismounted, left the engine running and let it float across. The balloon tires were buoyant enough to keep the exhaust just about water level, hence the need to keep the engine running. But if it did stall, a few cranks on the rope start (after you reached dry land) would usually spit the water out and the engine would fire back up. Those things were bullet proof.

Originally Posted by ConqSoft

Imagine the surprise when the rider was in top gear, all tucked in and howling down a fire road, and snicked the lever one more time, only to be greeted with low gear and 11 million instant rpm! [/i]

The perfect dirtbike for stegen!!!

I have a friend who is missing the end of one index finger, compliments of the very even powerband of the TM400. Was groping near the chain for some reason when he hit a bump - oops! Wonder how it feels to have your finger taken for a ride between the chain and rear sprocket.

Rich Thorwaldson was the factory Suzuki rider on the TM-400 from '71-'74, w/ pretty good success I might add. Seeing that the Cyclone made the number one spot on the list is another testament to what a great rider he was.

Originally Posted by johnnycrash

Three wheeler riders are at the top of the motorized vehicle evolutionary ladder. Here is a pic of your typical three wheeler rider engaged in his favorite sport.

Now that is a classic picture. Rednecks+booze+ATV=

My Grandmother has an ATC200 (my granparents are farmers) that she still rides to this day! it actually goes ok but is a bitch when traversing hillsides, but is most dangerous at high speed on bumpy ground especially when the rear wheels hit bumps individually as it starts to bounce from side to side and is quite easy to roll! Although it is awsome to powerslide around and do fishtails on their long gravel driveway